HBS "mistake" essay....

Question

The question is:

What have you learned from a mistake? (400-word limit)

Now, I was going to use the story my sophomore year of college when I did terrible and took a year off of school, but that is more of a failure, not a mistake, I guess I see a "mistake" as being less of a big deal.....besides, I'm using that story for the "Tell us about your undergrad experience" essay.

In addition, the question doesn't ask to describe a mistake and what you learned from it, just the latter. So I was going to write a general essay about mistakes and what I have learned about making them, and maybe provide a few very, very brief examples, but mostly try to focus on what I've learned and how I apply that to my everyday life now.

Thoughts? Does this make sense?

saurabh357 · Answer

Ok...my take on this is a little different. So, when HBS talks about learnings from a mistake, obviously it is asking you to relate to mistakes in a personal context. So, for me, a description of what did I do wrong would be required. It will be brief, yes, but it would be there. My analysis of this question went something like this....

Mistake: professional/personal? specific? 
Learning: 
1.) What was wrong about the action
2.) did you realise the wrong part when you acted that way. If yes, how & why?
3.) What did you do to make the wrong right, if anything?
4.) how has this affected you as a person?
5.) how has this translated into your actions in a similar situation after that incident?

Of course, thats a lot to write in 400 words but for me, structuring it out like this has helped a lot.

aurobindo · Answer

jj, a couple of quick thoughts:

1. I think they are stressing on "a mistake". Hence, can we talk about more than one mistake?
2. I think "mistake" and "failure" have more of cause and effect relationship rather than that of difference of degree.
3. A document on how to write essays, that rhyme shared, says "depth over breadth". That document kind of suggests that when we have to write examples, it is better to dwell on a single example than to discuss a couple of brief examples.
4. Mentioning same example twice can be a little awkward. I agree. But if we can highlight different dimensions of the same incident in different essays that might sound ok. Is n't it?

jjanders · Answer

Thanks for the input so far.

I could use the same example maybe, in the "Undergrad experience", I didn't dwell too much on the "lessons learned", I feel I could really expand on that part for this essay....but I'd be concerned using the same incident in two essays.

I guess I could try to think of another example to use.

aurobindo · Answer

Agree with you on that.

I was quoting my two years experience at a non-profit organization in two essays. But that is for Yale:

1. I was highlighting that 2 year experience in why MBA
2. Also, on how that experience will add to diversity (personal statement: question 3)

jjanders · Answer

Thanks. I have a good framework for the lessons learned, I just need to pick a different example to use.

lepium · Answer

Don't do that, just pick the one best example and make the most of it.

L.

hbs.aspirant · Answer

Did I not undrstand your statement or does it really mean that you decided what you learnt from the mistake but haven't decided on what was the mistake that you learnt from?

nick_sun · Answer

I wonder what's the ratio of words for description of a mistake to those for the lesson you have learnt from a mistake? Is it 100 words for description and 300 words for the lesson? My mistake is a little bit complicated and I may need to take 250 words only to describe it. Is it ok?

aaudetat · Answer

Gang -

when writing about failures, mistakes, and any other negatives, a very common mistake is to dwell too much on the bad part and not enough on the good. You want to say the minimum about what went wrong and the maximum about how you fixed it, what you learned, how you've changed. 

Tread carefully when writing about adversity and other negatives. You absolutely do not want to whine and you really don't want to harp on the bad, leaving the reader to remember the negative points rather than the good ones. BE CAREFUL.

aurobindo · Answer

Thanks aau. Let me check my essays...

R.E.D. · Answer

aurobindo, thank you very much for this document! It's really a must to read before starting with essays.

aurobindo · Answer

we must all thank Rhyme for that document !

HBS "mistake" essay....

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